Explanation:
Could the building blocks of
life exist under the smog of
Titan?
What is creating all of the
methane?
To help answer these
questions, the largest and most mysterious moon of
Saturn got a quick first look from the
Cassini robot spacecraft soon after entering orbit around the
giant planet last week.
Although thick atmospheric
smog prevented detailed surface images in visible light, infrared light was able to provide interesting clues to the nature of Titan's surface.
The above images show Titan in three different colors of
infrared light,
with the most energetic on the left.
The leftmost image is the most detailed but shows
surface features that are
not yet well understood.
The smoothness of the middle image
is consistent with a large frozen ocean of water ice containing simple
hydrocarbons.
The darker regions on the rightmost image might
indicate areas relatively rich in
hydrocarbons.
The white spot visible near the South Pole is
hypothesized to be a persistent cloud of large particles
containing methane.
A better understanding of the mysterious surface of
Titan will hopefully be
forthcoming as scientists study these images and those from a
planned 45 flybys over the next four years.
In January, Cassini is scheduled to drop the
Huygens probe onto
Titan's surface.